Clinical staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, in west London, also failed to pass on the results of crucial blood tests which could have led to life-saving action being taken more promptly.

Westminster coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe found that Ms Henderson’s care also suffered from the high turnover of doctors caused by European Union rules limiting their working hours.

Following the damning verdict Ms Henderson’s family are now preparing to sue the hospital trust for negligence.

Judith Gunton, Ms Henderson’s mother, said: “The loss of my daughter has been devastating for all her family and her huge circle of friends. What happened was an horrendous shock to us – there is no word big enough to describe it.

"A fit young woman goes into hospital for a routine operation and doesn’t come out, other than to be rushed with blue lights across London to a second hospital, where she dies.”

Ms Henderson elected to undergo surgery after suffering problems with her gallbladder.

But the inquest heard that during the operation, on August 17 last year, Mr Thompson “caused an injury” to the right branch of her portal vein and the right hepatic artery – which distribute oxygen-depleted blood to the liver,

As a result “it was necessary to undertake a repair which meant clamping the blood supply to the liver. During this clamping the right lobe of the liver suffered a period of ischemia and was subsequently infected”, the inquest heard.

Dr Radcliffe found that following the operation “there was a lack of communication” between the surgeon and other staff about the risk of liver ischemia – a restriction in the blood supply.

A blood sample which would have given an indication of the potential for liver ischemia “was not acted upon”.

Rather than being readmitted to intensive care for an urgent CAT scan Ms Henderson was moved onto a surgical ward on August 18.

On waking, and under the impression the operation had gone well, Ms Henderson telephoned her mother to ask if she could give her a lift home, saying she expected to be discharged shortly.

But in the early hours of August 19, Ms Henderson’s condition suddenly deteriorated and she was moved back to intensive care, suffering from “very severe acidosis”, a condition in which the acidity in the blood increases.

Dr Radcliffe found that “despite intensive treatment it was not possible to correct the acidosis.

A CAT scan revealed infarction of the right lobe of the liver”, meaning that the tissue in her liver was dying due to a lack of oxygen as a result of an obstruction to the blood supply.

Later that day Ms Henderson was transferred to the liver unit at King’s College Hospital, in Camberwell, south London.

However, Dr Radcliffe found that the hours of acute metabolic instability she had suffered proved “too much of an insult to her body and slowly her organs began to shut down and give up the fight”.

Two days later, despite intensive resuscitation and surgery, Ms Henderson died of multi-organ failure.

Dr Radcliffe said the restriction on doctors’ hours laid down in the European working time directive had resulted in a frequent turnover of medical staff, “rather than the continuous care that used to be provided”.

She said that in Ms Henderson’s case that might have made the difference between a doctor realising the importance of a liver function test and a new junior doctor arriving on the ward without that knowledge.

“That blood test was missed. It was never one thing, it was a number of small things. That blood test could have been another opportunity for awareness of underlying conditions,” said Dr Radcliffe.

“It is not possible to say her life would have been saved with an earlier transfer, but on the whole, the earlier you get treatment, the better the outcome.”

Mrs Gunton, of Richmond, west London, said: “Joanna believed she was having a routine operation and would be out and about with speed.

"Indeed on the day of the operation there was even talk of her being out ‘some time after 6’ and she asked me if I would pick her up.

“We are so grateful to King’s College for all they did in their fantastic liver unit to try to save her.

"Nothing can bring her back, but we hope that changes that are being made within the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital will mean that other parents, families and friends do not have to go through the same ghastliness as we have had to.

"She lives on thanks to the marvellous 41 years and 3 months of glorious memories we have of her.”

Ms Henderson’s friend and neighbour, Loma Halden, a books editor, said: “Joanna wasn’t at all the type to worry about going into hospital.

"She’d never have thought there was going to be a problem. At first she seemed fine.

"She had come round from the operation and all seemed OK. When she woke up she called her family to arrange for them to pick her up, but then she suddenly deteriorated.”

Ms Halden added: “She was a wonderful, vibrant young woman who had a very successful career. It is terribly, terribly sad. And what makes it so much worse is that it sounds as if her death could have been avoided.”

Mr Thompson is a consultant surgeon with more than 30 years experience of gastrointestinal surgery.

As well as carrying out NHS work at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and the Royal Marsden in Fulham, west London, he has a private practice at the Lister Hospital, in Chelsea.

He is also the co-author of Clinical Surgery, described as an “authoritative and comprehensive textbook for medical students and residents”.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital said it had implemented the recommendations of an internal investigation into Ms Henderson’s death and would implement the coroner’s additional recommendations.

It said it was working with its provider of pathology services to improve the communication of urgent blood results, and that the “communication of patient information between medical teams working on a shift basis has been thoroughly reviewed and actions have been put in place”.

Heather Lawrence, Chelsea and Westminster’s chief executive, said: “The Trust has apologised to the family and we extend our deepest sympathies and regret to them for Joanna Henderson’s untimely and unexpected death.”